A small slice of New England

Freedom Trail Part 2 – Park Street Church

This church was founded in 1809 in the midst of an exciting chapter in the nation’s history. Ten people, including author Oliver Wendell Holmes, gathered in the mansion of William Thurston on Beacon Hill on February 27th, 1809, to discuss the organization of a church in this area. By mid-March, the committee had located a site at the corner of Park and Tremont Streets, and Park Street Church was founded.

The 217 ft. steeple of this church was once the first landmark travelers saw when approaching Boston. Its lofty architecture reflects an even loftier mission of human rights and social justice. Prison reform began in this church, women’s suffrage was strongly supported here, and some of the first and most impassioned protests against slavery were delivered inside these hallowed walls.

The site of Park Street Church is known as “Brimstone Corner” perhaps because the congregation once stored “brimstone,” or sulfur (a component of gun power) in its basement during the war of 1812. Or maybe it’s because old-school ministers delivered many a “hell-fire and brimstone” sermon here. The idea seems to have caught on. Even today, self-appointed prophets (not associated with Park Street) can be heard delivering their colorful and spirited pronouncements promising hellfire for the unrepentant to unsuspecting passers-by on Brimstone Corner. . The church was also where William Lloyd Garrison delivered his first major public abolitionist speech.

Park Street Church can also be remembered for a more peaceful event. “America” (My Country ‘Tis of Thee), by Samuel Francis Smith, was first sung at the Park Street Church on July 4th, 1831